Let me direct you all to an interesting study by Mr. Loren Yager, Director, International Affairs and Trade, Government Accountability Office (GAO), Washington, D.C. at the WIPO Website during a recent meeting there held by the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement: Go to Document WIPO/ACE/6/4.:

OBSERVATIONS ON EFFORTS TO QUANTIFY THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF COUNTERFEIT AND PIRATED GOODS

There are other articles there that can be used to have a constructive discussion on IP infringement issues and debate.

Well .... people should be concerned with developments at the multilateral level. When a specialized agency is being used by governments (politics), where WIPO is hiring govt. officials (as staff, politics), where the Director General is more concerned with 'infrastructure' (so-called modernizing the organisation with loads of IT databases, etc), and where he alienates developing countries nationals (politics/internal and external), where WIPO feels/acts as if it is a corporate structure (private and to a lesser degree public), where there is disdain for developing countries(by a large number of industrialized countries and to a certain degree the WIPO Administration) then you can be sure that WIPO will become less relevant in time. WIPO will act like a private entitity that will provide services: PCT, Madrid, Arbitration & Mediation, a new global copyright registration database (in creation), etc. If that is more important to countries than legal reform, substantive negotiations, etc. then so be it. However, if the multilateral system is in danger it is also because the WIPO Administration and to a smaller degree some of its Member States, corrupt the system. The US Ambassador is perhaps just giving a small warning, to industry, WIPO, and even countries themselves.

I wrote the comment below on Copyright Reform under the Techdirt article about Copyright Reform/Lawrence Lessig. I highlighted the WIPO move to create a database for registering works. In the esteemed opinions of this blog membership, would such a database, one that gives access to information on copyright ownership information, etc. help in solving some of copyright's most patently obvious problem, that is copyright terms that are just way too long? If there is to be change, exactly what part of the copyright law needs fixing? And please don't say that abolishing the law in itself, that's just not constructive. Answer instead if copyright law should change in regards to the registration of works. Just throwing this out there as I'm interested to know how developed and developing countries would tackle the registration issue.

My previous comment on copyright reform is below:

My first comment regarding this topic is based on a news article I just read on registration of creative (copyright) works: I quote "Ms. Cruickshank urged copyright stakeholders, such as musicians, to legally resister their work with CAIPO. Registration, she warned, may be their only defence in court."
(http://www.spiceislander.com/?p=3097)

WIPO seems to have already moved forward and taken a position on Copyright Reform, one that includes encouraging stakeholders to register their creative works as a precautionary measure. To learn more one will have to carefully listen and read all of WIPO's interventions, especially the repeated need for an infrastructure, for example "He (Francis Gurry Director General of WIPO) said WIPO plans to build a global database of music and films to facilitate convenient, legal use of the cultural products."

So that is what is called 'Copyright Reform'. I wonder what civil law countries would say when one says that registering copyright may be their only defence in court? And do they mean with a collective management agency or with a government agency, for example, several national copyright offices have a so-called voluntary registration system. I looked up what some of these were and just picked one out of the blue, i.e. Finland: Here is what was said in their response to a WIPO Questionnaire on said subject: "Question: 1. What is the name and legal status of the copyright registering/recording body in your country?
Answer: There is no requirement for registration of copyright in Finland."
(http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/registration/replies_survey_copyright_registration.html )

Also of interest is WIPO's response to a call for comments on the proposal for a global database (http://globalrepertoiredatabase.com/rfp.html)

Here are the responses, mostly from industry:
(http://globalrepertoiredatabase.com/rfir)

At any rate, if there is to be Reform, it should probably start with the current issues on the table at the WIPO SCCR meetings. Civil society discussion on some of these issues will be interesting to read and follow.

My first comment regarding this topic is based on a news article I just read on registration of creative (copyright) works: I quote "Ms. Cruickshank urged copyright stakeholders, such as musicians, to legally resister their work with CAIPO. Registration, she warned, may be their only defence in court."
(http://www.spiceislander.com/?p=3097)

WIPO seems to have already moved forward and taken a position on Copyright Reform, one that includes encouraging stakeholders to register their creative works as a precautionary measure. To learn more one will have to carefully listen and read all of WIPO's interventions, especially the repeated need for an infrastructure, for example "He (Francis Gurry Director General of WIPO) said WIPO plans to build a global database of music and films to facilitate convenient, legal use of the cultural products."

So that is what is called 'Copyright Reform'. I wonder what civil law countries would say when one says that registering copyright may be their only defence in court? And do they mean with a collective management agency or with a government agency, for example, several national copyright offices have a so-called voluntary registration system. I looked up what some of these were and just picked one out of the blue, i.e. Finland: Here is what was said in their response to a WIPO Questionnaire on said subject: "Question: 1. What is the name and legal status of the copyright registering/recording body in your country?
Answer: There is no requirement for registration of copyright in Finland."
(http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/registration/replies_survey_copyright_registration.html )

Also of interest is WIPO's response to a call for comments on the proposal for a global database (http://globalrepertoiredatabase.com/rfp.html)

Here are the responses, mostly from industry:
(http://globalrepertoiredatabase.com/rfir)

At any rate, if there is to be Reform, it should probably start with the current issues on the table at the WIPO SCCR meetings. Civil society discussion on some of these issues will be interesting to read and follow.